


Thunder

by IAmWhelmed



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hugs, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing in the Rain, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Romance, no reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:09:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26018554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmWhelmed/pseuds/IAmWhelmed
Summary: Maybe she’d wake up and be completely over Adrien Agreste and his beautiful smile and his chiming laugh and his-- oh. Oh, that wasn’t likely. She bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood, shut her eyes and pretended for a moment that this wasn’t happening. Kagami wasn’t hanging happily off Adrien’s arm, and Adrien didn’t look happy to be there. Adrien didn’t gaze at Kagami with eyes so soft that she nearly flashed back to a grey sky and an umbrella. Was it right to regret falling in love with somebody? Was it right to wish she’d never met him?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Kudos: 112





	Thunder

Kagami was her friend, she should be happy for her.

Rival, yes, but friend took priority, it was just that-- right then--Marinette wanted to focus on neither. She wanted to go home, cry into her covers, let Tikki soothe her to sleep. Maybe she’d wake up and be completely over Adrien Agreste and his beautiful smile and his chiming laugh and his-- oh. Oh, that wasn’t likely. She bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood, shut her eyes and pretended for a moment that this wasn’t happening. Kagami wasn’t hanging happily off Adrien’s arm, and Adrien didn’t look happy to be there. Adrien didn’t gaze at Kagami with eyes so soft that she nearly flashed back to a grey sky and an umbrella. Was it right to regret falling in love with somebody? Was it right to wish she’d never met him? Was it too much to ask to go back to thinking he was a stuck-up model putting gum in her seat? To know there was a guy like him out there, to know that there was a boy with a huge heart, blessed with a god’s face and the mind of a genius-- it was to know she’d never fall quite so hard for another.

But he was happy, she could see it, and even if she couldn’t manage to be happy for them just yet, she could at least step away and let it happen.

Marinette ducked out of the way with a small word to Alya. Couldn’t remember what she said. Alya’s brow was furrowed, but she’d let her go.

Out of the shelter, out of the stuffy room with loving faces and too-hot temp, back to the sidewalk where the clouds were grey and the sun was missing. She stood at the street corner and contemplated whether or not she wanted to go home. It thundered somewhere above her, in the distance, so low she couldn’t hear the warning. It was going to rain, of course it was, but she’d rather chance the cold than go back. The prospect of a headache and fever seemed miles above the face-burning torture she’d find; home it was, then.

Home, where she couldn’t see the thunder above from under her covers, where arctic blue lit the sky but there were no emeralds dangling just out of her reach. She still had the umbrella, tucked away somewhere; she’d give it back, later, when she felt like she could let go of its padded handle. She wiped at the wetness dripping down the apple of her cheek and wished she had it right then, despite the fact that the rain was yet to start. All she could do was hold herself and trudge forward, because eventually she wouldn’t feel the cold wisps of stormy air, and she could hear thunder without body-wracking sobs. Just one step forward, keep going, she just had to keep going. Every step felt heavy, and her shoulders felt thick with tension, like a drawstring tugging at her, trying to get her to go back. “Marinette.” Or maybe that was the hand at her shoulder. Maybe it was the warm arms that pulled her in and squeezed her and tucked her head under a protective chin as she hunched over. “What’s wrong? You left so suddenly, I--?” She loved him but she hated him. He should have figured it out. She was so obvious, but he was so stupid, so, so stupid. Adrien pulled her close, rested a hand on the back of her head andran soothing fingers through her hair. Her pigtails would give out, she knew they would, but she wasn’t much in a place to care. She just wanted that stupid umbrella. “Marinette, you’re my--”

“--Friend, I know. I know, okay, please! Please, Adrien, stop saying that.” His hold tightened, and she wept into his neck. “Please…”

If he was upset, if he was reeling and hurt and trying to figure out what exactly he was to her, he didn’t show it. The thunder clapped overhead, but she was long past  _ Avoir un coup de foudre _ . “You know,” he began, other hand running circles into her side. “I’m starting to think you don’t want to be my friend, Marinette.” She’d thought, for sure, that she’d imagined it, but then his lips were against her head, and she could feel him smiling-- his voice rang not hurt, but impish.

“It’s not funny.”

He laughed--  _ laughed! _ \-- and tucked her head under his chin again. “Sorry, sorry, I know it’s not. It’s just…” She winced and tried to pull away, but he was stronger than he looked. He kept her in his arms. “I always seem to be running after you, Marinette.”

“You--” She swallowed and tried to pull away again, and yet he didn’t even try to keep her there. Her arms just felt weak, like Papa’s gelatin cakes, like her arms were just a mold. “You should go back to Kagami. I-I’ll be fine!”

Recognition flashed in his eyes, as though he was starting to understand why, exactly, she’d left so suddenly to start a lonely trek home. She hoped he hadn’t. He laughed again, and she was passively reminded of black ears and leather. “Sorry, Marinette, but I’m not going anywhere. You see, a friend pointed out that this is… the second time I’ve gone after you?” He sighed and clicked his tongue thrice. “You know, to some people, it would look like I’m running after my girlfriend.”

“Kagami--!”

“Kagami thinks so, too.”

Thunder roared above, and finally the rain followed. Adrien stripped of his overshirt and held it over their heads, grinning like a cat as she huddled closer for shelter. It was on instinct, really, she hadn’t meant to get so close now that his arms had finally released her from their painfully sweet cage. But when she blinked away the clouding tears in her eyes, she found herself nose-to-nose with Adrien. Thunder roared again, and she could see the narrow of his eyes, soft, the quirk in his lips, a tiny smile, and he looked exactly as he had that day she both treasured and hated most. He exhaled a laugh, shook his head. “Hey, Marinette. You’re not exactly a  _ good friend _ , you know?”

“H-Huh?”

There it was again, something a little different in the storm, his eyes sparkling with something akin to mischief. “You said something like that to me at the wax museum, remember?” She sniffled, and he wiped away a stray tear with the back of his fingers. “I get it, now.”

She shook her head, because even if he did, she’d made the choice to let go of him, to let him be happy, to support him. Him knowing made no difference, it just meant some words were coming and none of them were words she wanted to hear. “Adrien, please don’t. Please just go back to Kagami, I-I’m going home.”

“Marinette…” His fingers were under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him again, but she wouldn’t. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a shallow breath as the tears came again, and again, no matter how many times he wiped them away. She could feel him staring at her, but she wouldn’t. He chuckled. “Marble to marble, wax lips against wax lips.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, because that was an unwelcome memory come unbidden, and why would he remind her of something like that when she was already in tears and--? He kissed her. Soft, cautious, testing as he took one of her lips between his own. He tilted her head by the chin, or maybe she’d done it herself, and delved deeper against her lips, lifting his hand to cup her face as she fell against him. Her arms still felt like jelly, but she found the mold of her muscles worked, at least enough to wrap around his neck. The hand of his that held his overshirt over their heads fell wet against soaking cotton, but the rain hardly felt cold when he pulled away and looked at her like that. “Just to be clear, Princess, that wasn’t a prank.”

Princess. She’d heard that nickname somewhere before, but her brain was short-circuiting and it slipped by in the landfall. She swallowed. “I… still have your umbrella.”

He laughed. “Keep it, I’m starting to think we’re doomed to get stuck in thunderstorms together.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually written only as a means of submitting a piece for a zine application, and I'm guessing it's what got me in! ❤️
> 
> Hate to say it all, but this is probably the last I'm going to write for Miraculous Ladybug, aside from my piece in the zine, and a few projects I have with my very dear friend TheAnxiousCupcake on tumblr https://theanxiouscupcake.tumblr.com/
> 
> I've come to the conclusion that this fandom just isn't for me, it's more than a little toxic, more than a little police-y, filled with children (I am including the adults in that statement 😂) and quite frankly, the lack of literary analysis skill concerns me lol It was fun while it lasted, everyone! ❤️❤️❤️ If you wanna follow me or talk to me still, you can! I promise I'm friendly, and we may just have more than this fandom in common 😉  
> https://iamwhelmed.tumblr.com/


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